Spring is a wonderful reminder to freshen up and begin anew. At home, I'm working on closets... My closet, my kiddos' closets, and the dreaded hall closet. {{Why does everything end up in the closet?? I found a jump rope next to the paperwork for the refinance of our house... both in the hall closet for some reason! Uggggggh.}}

To avoid dusting, scrubbing, and putting stuff where it belongs, I am also "Spring Cleaning" my computer. My graphics files needed some attention, so I spent 30 minutes reorganizing. Love how it turned out!! It's so much easier for me to find the clip art I need when they are organized by artist! :)

Also, I'm making sure I left feedback on my Teachers Pay Teachers purchases to earn my TPT credits. They add up quickly, and are easy to redeem for free resources!! Log in to TPT, click on the "My TPT" tab, then select "My Purchases." It will show you a list of all of the purchases you made, along with the opportunity to leave feedback. It's also a great place to see if you need to download an updated version of your purchases for free.

By popular request, the Academic Vocabulary Word Walls are together in a discounted bundle! As a special thank you for followers who already bought one of the Academic Word Walls, this set is available for an additional discount - only $8 for the set through March 31!

Had an ice day last week, and began printing/laminating small copies of my new Academic Word Wall Bundle (grades 2-6). I printed them with 2 pages per page (one of the options you can choose when printing), to create smaller cards to use during word work activities with my 4th graders - decoding multi-syllabic words.

***Confession time: I actually finished this bundle last week on a crazy ice day... and fully intended to post the Bundle last week... and then the weather became beautiful again, so I went outside instead. :) I'm sure y'all understand...

Here's a round-up of some more of the best free resources online for teachers and their students. Enjoy!!

Google Scholar - Quick! Need a quick bit of research about why kids need to limit their time watching TV? Want to find relevant articles for your Graduate Studies class? Google Scholar is a fabulous resource to do a quick search for articles, citations, and even case law!

NewsELA.com - daily news content for students to hone their critical thinking skills using current events! I truly can't say enough good things about this site!!

Time For Kids - They aren't just for classroom magazines... Check out their website for free informational texts, and be sure to visit their mini-sites page - tons of resources organized around a single topic!

Science In the News Archive from www.ScienceA-Z.com - I love the rigorous vocabulary and high-interest passages in the Science in the News! I used to use these as an occasional special morning work, with the instructions: read Science in the News with at least 2 different people. Discuss where you would look for additional information about ocean trash (or whatever the topic is...)

Did I forget to list your favorite Amazing Resource? Let me know in the comments!! :) Be sure to check out the archives (by clicking the button below) for more Amazing Resources.

My CCSS Strategy Sheets for Literature and Informational Text have been refreshed and expanded. There are more graphic organizers for every RL and RI standard in grades 3-5, Tips from me, and an "extra" section - linking reading and writing. If you already purchased these - download them again for the expanded content at no extra charge. Click on the picks below to take a closer look. Enjoy!

Time for another Bright Idea! We all know that teachers are consistently short on time, so this hop is perfect for the busy teacher - chock full of effective, short, and classroom tested Bright Ideas!

Since I have 53 kiddos this year coming in and out of my classroom throughout the day, I have a lot of clutter! Today I'd like to tell you about my favorite cheap "tool" to tame the clutter...

Actually, they you can use any kind of removable label or even blue painter's tape. As long as you can switch out the labels easily, you're good. I label binder clips with the time for the kiddos who use the resources in the clip. You could label them by subject, to be graded, writing samples, Tier II documentation, etc... Then set them on the shelf. Look how easy it is to find the materials you need!

Here's a larger view of my messpigsty reading groups shelf. I clip together their notebooks, then set them in a stack with the books we are using. I am able to quickly find student materials, allowing me to spend my time teaching and kid watching instead of searching high and low for their notebooks, which I wrote about in an earlier post. :)

Once you have a set of removable labels, you'll wonder how you lived without them! They stick to your old Crystal Light containers...

They stick to wood (and remove easily!) Since I work with multiple grades this year, and began after the school year started, I inherited a closet full of teaching junktreasures resources. I put everything I use for each grade level on its own shelf, then label the shelf. This makes it easy for me to find what I need, and for other teachers to borrow resources, too!

If you like any of these ideas, please pin your favorite picture to share the Bright Ideas. Next in this month's Bright Ideas Blog Hop is Tammy from 1..2..3.. Teach With Me. She's sharing Bright Ideas for Parent Communication. Happy Sunday!!

If you want, you can visit blogs in the hop via the links below. There are over 150 amazing bloggers participating... That's a lot of Bright Ideas!

Disclosure: This blog is written and edited by Jen Sykes. For questions about this blog, please email hellomrssykes at gmail dot com. This blog accepts product samples for review. All opinions, errors, and beliefs are mine. Views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Affiliate links are used to help support this website. Thanks for being amazing today.

Click here for:

Follow This Blog!

*Jennifer Sykes, Hello Mrs Sykes is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com.